Attic Fans Good or Bad? Be Careful if You Do

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 18

  • @BarbMcGowan
    @BarbMcGowan 4 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Great video! Concise and well-explained 👏👏👏

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Thank you so much. I’m glad it helped you!!

  • @twistedninjareviews3100
    @twistedninjareviews3100 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I just installed a Fan and it works way better! I bought bunch of insulation and sealed all leaks and nothing heat from the roof kept my attic super hot. Installed a Remington Solar Attic fan and it is wonderful, temperature is better, lower rooms are cooler and im saying on my bill

  • @petem6503
    @petem6503 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    People tend to think "exhaust the hot air" is the solution. When you analyse heat through a roof/ceiling system, you find that a lot of the heat transfer is radiation from the underside of the roof to the top side of the ceiling. The radiation process is not interrupted very much by attic ventilation. The infiltration of (conditioned) air from house into the attic is better defeated by adequate attic ventilation openings (eg, soffit vents and gable vents). Sealing holes is important, but reducing the negative pressure in the attic removes the motive force (pressure differential). Mechanical venitilation of an attic is not as easy as it looks, particularly with gable exhaust vents. I've done the calculations of reducing roof load via ventilation, and the cost of running the fan roughly equals the svaings on air conditioning, so no pay back. Extreme heating climates usually translate into sealing holes and cracks being the best remedy.

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  หลายเดือนก่อน

      Amazing analysis! Thank you for your contribution!

  • @jbonet4750
    @jbonet4750 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I installed a whole house fane in my home. We lived in an area that often saw 90 degree plus days. The back yard was cool and shady, the front was an oven due to lack of trees. I would turn on my whole house fan and send all the hot air in the house up into my attic. The vents and fans in the attic would exhaust it. I only ran this system when I had the back window open, or it was evening. It worked well, but it was a manually operated, just a simple on off switch that turned on my whole hose fan and attic fans at the same time.

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Okay, I am liking this air conveyor system. You are taking two things that I am not fully convinced are worth the effort/$ and combining their forces to become a productive part of the equation. Personally, I would continue to work towards a really well established insulation boundary with proper air sealing and proper insulation techniques. Over the long, the benefits of investing in insulation will outweigh a nifty air circulator, but it will likely cost more than your solution. Thanks for your comments and it seems you have moved...what is your scenario now?

    • @jbonet4750
      @jbonet4750 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@homeairleakagetest The house was well insulated, and sealed. I sold it a while back, but in a hot environment, i never needed AC....well it might have been nice a few times!

  • @excellenttwo
    @excellenttwo 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Woo....I lived in Tahus..Sorry Texas and we had a the attic fan. We had a different configuration which we would have the attic fan in the center of the house and we open windows from inside the house and the air from outside flew through the house and through the attic and out through the Attic what is your observation of this?

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I think I got what you are saying here! That is what I consider to be a whole-house fan. That fan is in a ceiling and connects from inside to the attic, as you mentioned. The attic fan is positioned on the roof and is there to draw air from the attic to the outside and help the ventilation process. That is the video's main point; sometimes, the negative pressure can draw your cool AC in through gaps and cracks in the attic floor if they are not sealed. A whole-house fan can be great, but it can also be a huge source of air leakage. If it is of the older variety, you can bank on it unless you have it covered and sealed in some fashion. Newer whole-house fans are covered and are more efficient (when not in use), so if you have one of those, you should be in good shape!

  • @carlpirkle3175
    @carlpirkle3175 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Any ideas how to seal or close off attic fan louvres in the ceiling? An old house. Fan isn’t used. We’re afraid of varmints coming into the house through the louvres.

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Hi! There is a Velcro cover you can install. a.co/d/5LbEhEC

  • @rogereprest
    @rogereprest 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    my attic fan works great & my house isn't seal

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Awesome news! Keep cool or warm wherever you happen to be!

  • @KW-vp3ks
    @KW-vp3ks 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I always see videos on "mights." i haven't found a video that shows before and afters. Air will take the path of least resistance. So if you have soffit vents and do the calculation of vent to cfm of a fan and keep the cfm of the fan around the amount of vent flow you should get you can achieve a much cooler attic with out hendering the air from inside the home. If your fan is a high cfm and you have a few vents, it might create a negative pressure environment. You most likely will pull air from inside your home into the attic. But is that still worse than fighting a 40-degree delta?

    • @homeairleakagetest
      @homeairleakagetest  4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Appreciate the insights!! Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts.

    • @jamesf.ryaniii7918
      @jamesf.ryaniii7918 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Very well said. I've watched a lot of videos on TH-cam and Amazon and the homeowner always says, "I installed the attic fan (usually gable mounted) and it didn't do anything to reduce my attic temps. This fan sucks and was a total waste of time & money".
      IMPORTANT: in order to remove a large volume of air, you must be able to replace that large volume of air.
      The most important thing is the air intake square footage.
      You need 1 sq ft of intake for each 750cfm of fan. So, if your fan is 2200cfm, you need 2200/750 = 3 sq ft of intake.
      Installing a gable mounted fan at one of your gable vents just doesn't make sense. Is the other gable vent as large as 3 sq ft???? Doubtful.
      Is the other gable vent PLUS the tiny holes in your soffit vents equal to 3 sq ft???? Still doubtful.
      This is where you start getting into a negative pressure situation and the fan starts pulling air out of the livable space (if you haven't air sealed).
      IMNSHO, a roof mounted attic fan is the better option. You will have both gable vents plus the soffit vents to provide air intake.
      My roof mounted fan is 1300 cfm on high (and 800 cfm on low). So, 1300/750 = approx 2 sq ft of intake.
      My 2 gable vents are 1 sq ft each plus the soffit vents give me a little extra.